Fiery pacer Haris Rauf led a pace assault on Afghanistan with a career-best five-wicket haul to give Pakistan a thumping 142-run victory in the first one-day international in Sri Lanka's Hambantota Tuesday.
Rauf's shattering 5/18 in 6.2 overs forced Afghanistan to their second-lowest ODI total of 59 in a staggering 19.2 overs after Pakistan were bowled out for 201 in 47.1 overs.
The victory gives Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series - the first bilateral between the two nations - with the remaining matches in Colombo Thursday and Saturday.
Rauf carried on the demolition act after fellow fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi had removed Ibrahim Zadran (nought) and Rahmat Shah (nought) off successive deliveries in the third over.
It had become 3/4 when Naseem Shah dismissed Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, also without scoring, before passing the baton to Rauf to complete the rout.
Rauf grabbed wickets of Ikram Alikhil (four), top scorer Rahmanullah Gurbaz (18), Mohammad Nabi (seven), Rashid Khan (nought) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (four) to complete the rout.
Rauf's previous best of 4/65 was against England at Birmingham in 2021.
Shaheen finished with 2/9.
Afghanistan's lowest in all ODIs is 58 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in 2016.
Earlier Mujeeb was Pakistan's wrecker-in-chief.
The 22-year old dismissed world No 1 batter Babar Azam for a third-ball duck to finish with figure of 3/33, while Nabi took 2/34 and Rashid 2/42.
Only opener Imam-ul-Haq with a 94-ball 61, Shadab Khan (39) and Iftikhar Ahmed (30) offered some resistance as Pakistan's much-vaunted batting failed on a slow Hambantota stadium pitch.
Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman off the fourth ball of the match for two before Mujeeb dismissed Babar and Mohammad Rizwan (21) in his first spell.
Imam steadied the innings with a fifth wicket stand of 50 with Iftikhar and another 40 with Shadab before Nabi dismissed Imam and Iftikhar in quick succession.
Imam’s 17th half century had only two boundaries.
Ace spinner Rashid chipped in with the wickets of Agha Salman (seven) and Shaheen for two.
Shadab, who hit three boundaries in his 50-ball knock, added an invaluable 35-run stand with Naseem (18 not out) for the ninth wicket before the latter was run out.
1ST ODI
Pakistan 201 in 47.1 overs (Imam 61, Mujeeb 3/33) beat Afghanistan 59 in 19.2 overs (Gurbaz 18, Rauf 5/18) by 142 runs
